Recognizing the Bonds
by KouRei
Summary: Maybe the little bruises and cuts that show up on your body seemingly out of nowhere, are actually little injuries that happened to your soulmate and you get the same marks on your skin as them. Now wouldn't that be interesting?


Yami stared at his hand, a long thin paper cut adored the tip of his thumb. It was the fifth one this month and he didn't know where he was getting them. He worked with Duel Monster cards and they were as sharp as Rex Raptor on a good day. To be honest, they didn't bother him much but he wanted to know where they were coming from. The current paper cut had apparently happened as he was meeting with his cousin Seto. They had been sitting, just talking, when he felt the slight sting on his thumb. Seto had eyed the paper cut like he was eating a distasteful lemon. He hated paper cuts since being a CEO led to him having plenty of them. Seto's hands were 'delicate' for a lack of words (in reality, he just really didn't like paper cuts, they disturbed him when typing.)

Yami took the band-aid from Seto and applied it to his thumb, nodded to what Seto was talking about.

" – So I think that it would be good if you did a performance on Saturday in that contest I'm throwing."

Yami thought back weeks, to what Seto was talking about. Seto's company had come out with a new set of cards. They were all the rage, what with the new art designs for the Dark Magician and others. Yami had to admit the new art looked cool. And now Seto's company was throwing a contest to all those who made desks with the new cards and offered the grand price of a rare card. To say in the least, the applications to be entered in the contest, were an astounding amount. But Seto was going to regulate the people going into the contest, not counting Yami, who would present the winner with a surprise bonus duel. Yami was brought back to the present when he heard the dreaded words from Seto.

"You know Anzu is going to be there right?"

Yami bit his check. Anzu had been a nice girl when they briefly dated in college but he broke up with her when she started acting creepy. Like stalker creepy. He shuddered.

"Is there no way you could get rid of her Seto?"

Seto shook his head,

"No, she's done nothing against my rules of the contest. I can't kick her out since she actually got into the competition fairly."

Yami frowned,

"How did she even get into the contest? She sucked at Duel Monsters back in collage. What is she even running?"

Seto looked at the paper on his desk.

"It says that she's running a Naturas deck. I'm surprised her stats were enough to actually make the requirements of the application."

Yami's eyebrows rose,

"She had stats? What were the requirements of the application?"

Seto shrugged and leaned into the couch he was sitting on.

"Their decks have to consist of the cards currently being promoted and old cards. No banned cards and the limit list is in effect. Also background checks are required and each duelist has to have at least experience, whether it be winning local contests or playing with others. There are other specifications but it's more math lingo than I would rather go into right now."

Yami hummed and dropped the subject. He was going to have find a way to avoid Anzu and still enjoy the competition. The conversation dropped into a comfortable silence as Seto's maids brought them lunch. Yami dropped his eyes to his hands as he chewed, softly fingering the band-aid on his thumb. Maybe he would buy some ointment on the way home, after of course, he buys the brand new romance novel he had been eyeing. It was written by his favorite author, Eamo Sazua. Yami always was satisfied with every one of Sazua's works. He didn't like anyone knowing but he an entire shelf dedicated to Eamo Sazua. Yami had all 23 books, all 4 of of the manga series that were based of the books and all 3 of the art books made by Sazua. He was hooked and he didn't plan in stopping.

He left Seto to his paperwork and went to the bookstore, glancing over the horror novels and heading straight to the romance novels. He ignored all the books that didn't have Suzua's name on them. He finally saw the display with the brand new book being promoted, Dark Bonds. Yami picked it up and flipped it over to read the back.

_Rebecca knew that it was her time, that it was time to give it all up. For love? For everything she believed in? No, not for those reasons. She would give up everything she had, everything that was making her weak. Then and only then would she be strong. _

Yami nodded, he liked how the back only gave a vague yet strangely informative summary. He tapped the book, he would enjoy this one. He moved away from the display, only to stop when something bright caught his eye. He turned to look at the promotional poster, reading the words and eyes widening. It was a promotional poster about meeting Eamo Sazua in public. As far as he knew, Eamo Sazua had declined every offer to appear in public, even declined fan signings. What had changed? He wasn't complaining. The poster said that Eamo Sazua would chose 5 lucky fans to meet for a private fan signing. The only way to apply was to email or mail pictures of their book collections. Basically showing how much you supported the author, or the other way was to write an essay about which book was their favorite. The email and address to mail were at the bottom of the poster. Yami took a picture of the poster and decided to do both. He would show off with pride.

He was in line to buy his book when the cashier smiled at him and handed him a booklet. Yami looked at it before turning to the cashier, who smiled at him.

"The promotion for this book is when you buy the book within the first week, we give out a booklet with stickers and a secret password. Enter it in this website and see if you win a special prize from the author."

Yami looked at the booklet with wide eyes, happy inside. He paid for his book and stopped briefly at the convenience store near his house, buying that ointment he wanted. He also bought a packet of printer paper since he had ran out of paper, printing out all the alternate book covers and all the additional web material about Eamo Sazua. He blushed when he though about how obsessive he sounded. He really liked his books, ok? He set down Dark Bonds and turned on his laptop, quickly typing in the website written down in the booklet.

He liked the way the website started with a single blue rose. He clicked on it and the website bursted with different colors. There were roses along the side, all the same color blue as the first rose he clicked on. The website displayed the the summaries of all the books Sazua had written and even some fan art. He was in heaven. He took his time with the sight, reading everything there was to read. He made an account and entered the forum section of the website, eagerly talking with other fans. He moved on from the forums and moved the 'Author's Corner', where apparently the great Eamo Sazua added posts about his (Yami assumed his favored author was a boy, Eamo, to him, sounded like a masculine name) day.

He laughed as he read how Eamo fought with his friends on keeping some character in another book he like. He liked how innocent, for a romance novelist, Eamo sounded. He finished all the blog posts and finally found the secret red rose that would direct him to the password page. He typed in his password.

_Y-2-1-G-9-R-2-1-1-2-E-1-9_

He waited as the page loaded. He really wanted to win, it was in his nature to want to win. The website finally pinged and he read the words on the screen. His grin widened,

_You walk along a long path and find two chests. Your smarts and intuition has led you to pick the left chest and in doing so, you find a red rose. In the language of flowers, red roses are a symbol of intense and deep passion. You've won a red rose, the rarest rose on this website. A red rose among the blue rose garden, such luck indeed. As of right now, you're number 1 out of 10 who have the rare prize here. Enter your email below and see what happens. _

Yami typed his email into the text box and watched as new words popped out.

_You have won a special signed poster from Eamo Sazua and as well as a puzzle. Soon you'll receive an email instructing you on how to submit your address for delivery. Have a good day young rose. _

Yami blanked out. He was having trouble understanding what was happening. He had won a signed poster and a puzzle? His heart thumped hard and Yami bursted out of his chair. He danced his victory dance, ignoring the way he might have looked. He pumped his fist into the air and mentally praised himself. He sat back down and ran his hand through his hand, opening a new tab to check his email. He was a bit sketchy about emailing his address but it wasn't like he couldn't talk to Seto and have it fixed. It felt he waited hours until the email finally came, in reality it had only been 10 minutes. He followed the instructions to the T. He watched as his name, address and phone number was personally emailed to Eamo Sazua, himself apparently. He focused on the email, refusing to fangirl until he was done. Be fore sending the email, he checked if the email was the same one for the private fansign contest. And it was. Yami decided to knock three birds out with one stone and also send an email with the pictures of his book collection. He turned to his bookshelf, which was a massive and heavy piece of furniture. The bookshelf had six shelves in total. The first one had random knick knacks and souvenirs from his college days. The next shelf had all 23 books of Eamo Sazua, in chronological order at that. Each book was in perfect condition, he was particular of his books. Next was his shelf of Duel Monster cards. There were a total of 8 boxes, each with a different type of card. It made his life easier when he had learned to organize his cards. The fourth shelf was where all the extra merchandise went. Meaning all the manga and art books he had. This would be where he would put the puzzle once he finished with it. The next shelf was empty and for a good reason. This shelf was going to be for the future drama cds, anime series dvds, read along cds and any other media. And his last shelf held all his regular movies and such. It was quite a wonderfully organized bookshelf and Yami knew that he had doubles of everything on that shelf, stashed away in case of something.

He uploaded the pictures into his computer and started in the essay. To him, it wasn't hard to choose his favorite book. He loved one of Sazua's earlier works, called Broken Love. Yami knew each order of publishing for each book. Broken Love had been Sazua's fourth book to be published. Broken Love had been about a pharaoh who had been searching for his true love, knowing he would never be complete until he found them. But instead what happened was that the pharaoh had a vision of his soulmate. He then traveled around the world and saved him. Yami loved Egypt, so it was no big surprise that he would chose the romance novel in Egypt. Also he added in the factor of being a descendent of a pharaoh and that the story just spoke to him. In the end, his essay turned out to be 3 pages, longer than what he had expected. He mailed both emails and leaned back in his chair, feeling very satisfied. He shut off his laptop and grabbed Dark Bonds, hoping to get some pages read with a nice slice of pizza. He went ahead and ordered himself a large pepperoni pizza, making sure that he had clean dishes.

Yami sat down on his favorite soft leather loveseat. It was black, soft and it was the very first purchase he made from his winnings from dueling. He pulled his plate of pizza into his lap and cracked open Dark Bonds. From the first word, he was captured in the characters. The main character Rebecca reminded him of a friend from college. She was stubborn, independent and overall confident in herself. They were qualities that Yami though every person needed in life. Time went by as he read, the plate long clean of pizza. It was four in the morning when Yami felt the effects of no sleep and without him noticing, he passed out on the couch. The book in his hand fell to his chest and the plate stayed in his lap. Thankful for Yami that the night was warm.

Morning came and went, Yami didn't arise from his chair until noon. He felt tired and his mouth felt like it was covered in fuzz. He looked around and saw that he had fallen asleep in his chair. He pushed the plate in his lap to the floor and bookmarked his page in Dark Bonds. He laid there for a while, soaking up more of the sun and warming up nicely. He didn't get up until he heard his phone buzz from within his room. He sighed and got up, putting his plate in the sink and taking his book with him. He decided a shower was more important than a text, so went ahead and showered. He also brushed his teeth and dressed in the most comfortable clothes he had. Which was a black t-shirt and sweatpants. He finally checked his phone and saw that the text from Seto. It seemed that he wanted to talk more about the contest.

Yami texted back, saying that they could discuss the concert at dinner. It was Saturday so Yami usually went over to Seto's to have dinner. It kept Mokuba and to a lesser extent, Seto, from being lonely. He sat his phone down and went to check his email, hoping there was a confirmation email about his prizes being sent. But to his surprise, there was an email labeled [Eamo Sazua] and Yami didn't believe his eyes.

"It can't be." He murmured to himself. It could not be his favorite author sending him email. It just couldn't. He let his mouse hover over the email and he hesitantly clicked on it. 

_Dear Yami Sennen,_

_I'm very surprised that the reigning Duel Monsters champion is such a big fan of my work and not surprisingly, a lucky fan at that, Your prizes, the signed poster and puzzle have been mailed and they should be there within 3 to 5 days. The poster is based on Dark Bonds and it has not been released yet. So you'll have the first print of it. Now the puzzle is a 3D puzzle based of my book, Broken Love. I've made it so that if you solve the puzzle, you'll get a little surprise. _

_Now it has also come to my attention that you also entered the contest to meet me in person. All the entries go through me and a panel of judges. We saw your very extensive collection, which made me extremely flattered. We've agreed that you are so far, the first one who has really shown that you love my books. Enclosed in this email is your ticket for the private fansigning. You've certainly earned it. On the day of the fansign, bring anything you want me to sign, within reason please~! Respond to this email if you have any problems._

_Have a good day,_

_ Eamo Sazua_

Yami froze. Was this really happening to him. First a signed poster, a puzzle and now a private fansigning? He focused past his panic attack and watched as his printer spit out his ticket. He took it into his hands and just stared at it. It had a black border encasing the words. There was a red rose behind the words, with slight black shadows wrapping around the ends of each letter. It was tasteful and chic. He looked at the date and then at his calender and smiled. It was two weeks away and on a Saturday. He knew so far he was free on that day but he needed to tell Seto and his manager just in case.

He tucked the ticket into Dark Bonds and took a well needed breathe. He needed to calm down or he would end up called his friend Bakura in order to brag. Bakura, wasn't a morning person, so he refrained from the notion of calling him. Bakura was a friend from college. They had met when Yami had found him in the art room, just painting. Bakura had the most brilliant mind he had ever seen. He was a genius with a paint brush, even if his mouth was a bit uncouth. Bakura hadn't let anyone else know he was a painter and had graduated college with a business degree. Then he became an underground painter. He submitted his art one day into the Domino art museum and he had became famous almost over night. His art varied, but most of the time he painted a white haired angel with the softest eyes Yami had ever seen. He signed his artwork with the nickname 'Zorc' and Yami had to admit, Bakura's art moved people. But anyways, he certainly wasn't going to call Bakura until he had his third cup of coffee. Instead he called his mother, hoping to share some of his morning happiness with her.


End file.
